The present invention relates to a printed circuit board connector and, more particularly, to an improved printed circuit board connector which may be preassembled upon a preassembly tool for insertion into apertures in a printed circuit board. Once placed upon a printed circuit board, the connector components can be disassembled from the connector without removing it from the board. That is, individual contacts may be removed and replaced without removing the insulator housing, and the insulator housing may be removed and replaced without disturbing the contacts.
It is well known in the prior art to assemble a plurality of contacts into an insulator to form a discrete electrical connector which mounts a printed circuit board. Such a board often has one electrical circuit assembled on its surface and may be referred to as a "daughter board". It is also known to press fit the assembled discrete electrical connector into a plurality of aligned plated-through holes in a second, larger printed circuit board, often referred to as a "mother board". Such an arrangement is taught by U.S. Letters Patent No. 3,530,422, by D. S. Goodman, which issued Sept. 22, 1970. The inventive idea of the Goodman patent is to construct a discrete connnector and its contacts to enable the contacts to support the connector housing as pressure is applied to the housing to press the contacts into apertures in the mother board.
The prior art has moved away from the utilization of discrete circuit board connectors toward the concept of preassembling a connector by first pressing the contacts into the printed circuit board, or mother board, and then placing a housing over the contacts. Such an arrangement is shown in FIGS. 4-7 of U.S. Letters Patent No. B 3,518,610, by D. S. Goodman, et al., which issued June 30, 1970. In Goodman, a few contacts are first inserted into the mother board before a discrete daughter board connector is placed upon the mother board over the first assembled contacts.
The concept of placing all the contacts into a mother board and then placing a housing over the contacts is taught in U.S. Letters Patent No. 3,659,243, by G. H. Gluntz, which issued Apr. 25, 1972. Here, the assembled connector receives an integrated circuit, or IC, which is another form for mounting an electrical circuit. A connector in which all contacts are first inserted into a mother board and a housing capable of mounting a daughter board is then snapped over the contacts is shown in U.S. Letters Patent No. 3,783,433, by H. N. Kurtz, et al., which issued Jan. 1, 1974, and is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
To simplify the assembly of the plurality of contacts, it is known to form the contacts from a sheet metal strip leaving one end of the contacts attached to a carry strip, or selvedge strip. The selvedge strip may then be cut to accommodate a predetermined number of contacts in an aligned configuration for insertion into the printed circuit board apertures. Such an arrangement is shown in U.S. Letters Patent No. 2,947,965, by R. R. Scoville, which issued on Aug. 2, 1960. While the Scoville reference teaches the concept of comb-loading contacts, there is no reference made to an insulated housing. The Gluntz patent illustrates the concept of comb-loading a plurality of contacts and then placing a housing over the contacts as aforesaid.
Other prior art patents showing the concept of combloading include U.S. Letters Patent No. 2,995,617, by P. A. Maximoff, et al., and U.S. Letters Patent No. 3,182,276, by H. E. Ruehlemann. Additional patents showing the concept of press fitting contacts into a printed circuit board and then snapping a housing over the contacts include U.S. Letters Patent No. 3,671,917, by J. P. Ammon, et al., U.S. Letters Patent No. 3,676,926, by J. A. Kendall, and U.S. Letters Patent No. 3,769,679, by J. A. Kendall.
The prior art, represented by the patents cited above, teaches the concept of manufacturing an electrical connector by either manufacturing a discrete, stand alone connector which is then assembled on a circuit board or by press fitting a plurality of contacts into a printed circuit board and then snapping an insulator housing over the contacts. The latter method is basically a two-step manufacturing process.
The concept of eliminating the second step of snapping an insulator housing over the contacts pressed into a printed circuit board is described in a copending patent application, Ser. No. 793,300, filed May 3, 1977, by Richard F. Barry, Charles A. Gourley and Dennis G. Kohanek, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Preassembling a Printed Circuit Board Connector," which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.